Feature: Land of the Loops + Interview

Land Of The Loops (a.k.a. Alan Sutherland) thrives on goofy samples placed over hypnotic, sci-fi beats and tweaked bass hooks, all of which spiral drunkenly into the brain. Puttering About A Small Land, LOTL's second full-length, stimulates serotonin and tickles sensitive spots Sutherland lines his melodic bubbles with sudsy hoops of gurgling bigbeat and mischievous humor.
Interview with Land of the Loops - Electronica / Indie / Electro.

What inspired you to start making your music?

I wanted to since high school when I was about 15 but never had the wherewithal to make it happen until after I graduated college. I tried to start a few bands with friends a few times in college but never went very far I have some crappy tapes somewhere which is about all I have to show for it.

What was your experience with Slabco like?- How did so many great musicians come from such a small label?

Friends I think it all has to do with skateboarding. At one time we were all going to school in Boulder Colorado. I was always looking for someone to skate with. I met Steve Herman from Sukpatch first through our mutual friend Ronnie because all three of us skated. Steven Nereo who started Slabco skated too and had a car so we all wanted to hang out with him so he could take us to the skate park in Denver. I also hung out a lot with Dave Fuller from Buckminster Fuzeboard, he was the best skater out of all of us. I didn't know anyone made any music worth listening to till at least a year of skating together and school was about to end.

Do you think you would do a collaboration with any of the old Slabco bands like Casiocore Volume All Star, or Buckminster Fuzeboard ? - We would love to see a collaboration CD with all the greats from Slabco!

Stephen Herman from Explosion Robinson started a Casiocore 2, I was on the first one and I gave a song for the second one but the project kept getting shelved. I've done some stuff with Buckminster Fuzeboard, I did some beats for his first full length and we did a song together on the hurry up and wait e.p. My last release was a split EP with him but we did our songs separately. There were some unfinished attempts at collaboration in the past with volume All-Star Stephen and Explosion Robinson. As well as talk with Sukpatch. So the intent is there but not always the product. I'm a pretty big control freak, so working with other people doesn't always work out that well except for Buckminster Fuzeboard because our styles are so similar and we use the same equipment so we can swap files. He is a pretty chill cat which helps too.

Any upcoming albums we should look out for?

My wife and I bought a new house this winter and it is a fixer upper, which has been sucking all my free time out of me. After I lay down the hardwood floor in the living room I'm hoping for a break so I can settle in the studio and make some more jams. There are two or three songs finished and a least a dozen unfinished if that means anything. I took a break a while back for a couple years before rebuilding my studio, which needs to get reassembled in the new house but I have at least the basics up so far... I've been working on trying to evolve into a different sound but I think my stuff will probably just sound like more Land of the Loops.

What programs/equipment do you use to make your killer tunes?

Bundle of Joy was made using the Ensoniq EPS 16 Plus , the vocal tracks were recorded using volume All-Star's eight track reel to reel. I then moved up to the EPS's predecessor the ASR 10. It had just come out when I bought the EPS so it was too expensive. Now it is so old now that when you look for it on eBay it is described as a vintage sampler. A year ago or so I invested in a computer and now use cakewalk sonar 6.2 it does tons of crazy stuff, I'm still trying to figure out but I still use my sampler. Luckily they get along well in the wonderful world of MIDI. Which is a good thing because the clock on my sampler's has been drifting in and turning my songs into jazzy improvisational messes.

Do you have any juicy celebrity encounters because of your music that you could tell us about?

I have got a few phone calls in the height of my popularity but never met anyone in person. I don't think too many celebrities hang out in Waltham, Massachusetts. I once spoke to Sofia Coppola on the phone because she used a song of mine in a commercial in Japan. She was pretty cool, she sounded really stoned but then someone told me she always sounds that way. That was before she became a household name and she was just doing student short films.

Mike D. from the Beastie Boys called me about joining Grand Royal Records one night back when I was living at my parents house. He sounded just like my friend Ronnie so the whole time I wasn't sure if it was him but I assume it was. Unless my friend Ronnie played a joke on me and hasn't told me this whole time.

Finally, tell us about a cool product that you have seen or used recently that would fair well on brblife.com.

I am not sure. I Find out about all of the cool stuff on sites like brblife.com. I am going to buy a Rigid laser guided miter saw to put in the floor. Then I can feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator when I cut some wood. Nnnnnnnneeeeeeeeerrrrrrrwwwwwwww………..